Featured Stories

No, Double Ten Is Not “Taiwan’s Independence Day”

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No, Double Ten is not “Taiwan’s independence day”.  Just bear with me here; I know it looks very much like Independence Day on July Fourth here in the United States. When I was growing up in Taiwan in the 1980s, it certainly felt like it.  It was something I looked forward to. The oppressive summer heat in Taiwan cools down, every house on the block hangs a big flag by the door, the flags gently swaying in the autumn breeze. School would be closed, my parents would have stayed home,…

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(In Memoriam) Su Beng: The Revolutionist

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On June 26, 2016, a political commentator (my uncle), a university professor (my other uncle), and a deeply insignificant 19-year-old (me) shuffled into an apartment building in Xinzhuang, Taiwan to interview Su Beng for a nascent book of poetry about Taiwanese American identity. Small details swell with grand, wistful nostalgia. The trees in front of his building, by then iconic from how often they'd been the backdrop of frenzied, polarizing reporting. The portrait of Che Guevara, to whom…

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I’m Taiwanese American. Here’s Why I Stand by Hong Kong.

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After Taiwanese American Eric Tsai offered to co-host a workplace discussion on the protests in Hong Kong, a disgruntled co-worker wrote in a separate WeChat of over 300 Chinese American employees: “Let’s just spend some money and hire thugs to go after him.”   Editor's Note: I want to be very clear that TaiwaneseAmerican.org has never been, and never will be, anti-Chinese, and certainly not anti-Chinese American. We support the Taiwanese people in their right to self-determination;…

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TaiwaneseAmerican.org Statement on Solidarity with Mauna Kea Protectors

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We urge Taiwanese Americans to stand in solidarity with those protecting Mauna Kea. Today, we reflect on our own island nation’s Austronesian ancestry; the many times she was confronted with imperial and colonial violence; the work of our own indigenous peoples resisting foreign and local rule. We admit that the Taiwan we know today — vibrant, progressive, technologically advanced as she is — exists in imperfect parallel with other colonized lands: historical and holy grounds turned…

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Summer Language Camps in Taiwan: Five Firsthand Accounts

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Thinking of bringing your children to Taiwan for the summer to improve their Mandarin Chinese? A refresh of our article from two years ago, “Summer Language Camps in Taiwan: Five Firsthand Accounts,” this time we profile five Taiwanese American families* who enrolled in camps, some a little off the main path, to assist in their children’s Mandarin Chinese learning. Information current as of July 2019. *Some names have been changed Seeking A Cultural Experience - Karen Karen was…

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Ties that (Un)Bind: Q&A with Filmmaker James Y. Shih

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James Y. Shih is a filmmaker currently working on a short film entitled Ahma & Alan--a drama about a Taiwanese grandmother who travels from her rural small town to Taipei to get her American-born grandson out of jail. TaiwaneseAmerican.org's Ho Chie Tsai speaks with James about his path in film-making and this current project now in post-production. Ho Chie: Hi James. Good to chat with you today. What an interesting project you've been working on lately! James: Hi Ho Chie! Thank you…

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It’s T-Beauty Time! 5 Great Taiwanese Skincare Products To Try

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Jude Chao of the popular Asian beauty blog, Fifty Shades of Snail, recaps her recent beauty takeover on the TaiwaneseAmerican.org Instagram Over the past few years, Korean cosmetics have gotten a lot of attention from the global beauty community, with K-beauty products (and K-beauty-inspired products) showing up on the shelves of stores as mainstream as Walmart and Target. But South Korea isn’t the only player in the Asian cosmetics market. Taiwanese brands make some truly amazing products…

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New Age, Old Ways: Peter Lin Crosses Artistic Mediums and Cultures through Taiwanese American Jazz

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Hey Peter! We last spoke in 2016 about your jazz band, The Lintet. What’s been new with you? My work is always a reflection of my own personal life experiences, and my personal life has been quite a roller coaster to say the least! After finishing my graduate work for jazz studies at Rutgers University, I had the pleasure to work and study with Slide Hampton for about two years, an NEA Jazz Master and my musical hero in terms of the trombone and compositions / arrangements. This experience…

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Sharing Spaces: Taiwanese Indigenous Art Connects Tradition with New Audiences

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Djanav Zengror’s greeting flies through the air, and then the rest of the Ayi-Yanga troupe fills the cozy lounge of the Hearst Museum of Anthropology with harmonies. Within the intimate room, the music transports us to a wide-open space and readily calls to mind the verdant mountains of Taiwan. Their song, “Home Direction” (指路), starts with the hunter’s call. When his people hear him, they run to welcome him home. Through the interpreter, UC Berkeley student Cynthia Ji, Zengror explains…

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STEP Taiwan: The Taiwanese American Experience

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     I grew up in the land of apple pie, Friday-night football games, and white picket fences. Some weekends, I would drive up to D.C. and see tourists decked out in their new Washington D.C. souvenir T-shirts, posing along the National Mall – all while munching on their great American hot dogs. Whether intentional or not, in my distinctly American neighborhood, I was fully immersed in its popular culture, traditions, and the overall lifestyle. At home, however, I was…

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